


Aftermath of His Destiny

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, X -エックス- | X/1999
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-05 04:34:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4166097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arashi deals with Sorata's destiny and death. Karen comforts her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath of His Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> The 'Tsubasa' cross-over is so slight, you might miss it.

Take another step forward. Keep walking. It’s what Sorata would have wanted. Arashi could almost see his cocky grin, as he encouraged her to go on. Only Sorata wasn’t here any more. Not for Arashi, not for anyone else. He’d fulfilled his destiny. He’d protected Kamui. He’d died for the sake of the woman he loved. Leaving that woman to deal with the aftermath of his destiny. Selfish hero. Don’t grin at me like that from my memories. It only makes it hurt more, as I realize you’re not here any more.

Yes, Sorata was dead. Arashi was only too well aware of that. Why did she have to keep on realizing it? Think of Sorata telling her to keep on smiling, that pretty girls shouldn’t cry? Only to realize he was dead. He’d never say that to her, again. Think of Sorata cooking for Arashi and the other Dragons of Heaven, back when she’d been a Dragon of Heaven. Only to realize Sorata was dead. He was never going to cook for her, or anyone else ever again. 

Just keep on walking. Take another step. Eventually, you’ll get somewhere. Some place where your mind isn’t full of Sorata. 

Arashi blinked at the tent she’d arrived at. She had gotten somewhere. Banners fluttered around the purple and red tent, showing that this was a bathouse. A tent, which was a bathouse? After the destruction of the kekkai of Tokyo, rebuilding had been somewhat simpler. This bathouse was open for business. With soap girls.

Karen-san. Without considering the consequences, or anything really, Arashi pulled back the flap of the tent. 

“Excuse me!” A girl, her dark hair neatly pinned up, ran up to her. Arashi blinked for a moment at the extreme tidiness of her lingerie. In another time and place, this soap girl might have been a school girl, who kept her notebooks and pens in an impeccable state of neatness. “Excuse me, oneesan, but you can’t…” The girl’s voice trailed off, as she stared at Arashi.

Arashi looked down at herself. Her skirt was ripped. There were bloodstains on her blouse. Once, she’d always made certain that her school girl’s uniform was neat and clean. She hadn’t changed it, since Sorata’s death. What could she change into? She had only one outfit, now. Arashi had lost any right to wear her official robes as a miko of Ise.

“I’m sorry, oneesan,” the girl said. Onessan. It was what Sorata had always called her. “This tent is for customers, only.”

“It’s all right, Suzuran-chan.” The familiar voice cut through the haze of dazed misery which Arashi moved within. She looked up to see Kasumi Karen, wearing a kimono that rivalled Kanoe’s outfits for skimpiness. “She’s a customer.” Karen walked towards Arashi. The brightness of her red hair, the warmth of her presence enveloped Arashi, like nothing else had. Not since Sorata died. “My customer.”

Part of Arashi slumped, ready for Karen to take her in. Her knees buckled, as she fell into the soapgirl’s waiting arms. This was what Arashi had always done. Let other people take her in. From the priestess who found her on the streets, to Hinoto-hime herself. Another part of Arashi wanted to scream, because she remembered what had happened the last time she’d been taken in. Hinoto-hime had swallowed her. 

The Dragon of Heaven had disappeared, along with the sword of Ise and Arashi’s virginity. A new sword had been born, as her essence was merged with Hinoto-hime. This sword was made of fire and purpose, shaped by the active principle, which had awakened within the dreaming princess. It could pierce the heart of any Dragon of Heaven, even Kamui himself. Arashi couldn’t fight it, as the sword overwhelmed her and shaped her. The sword itself had merged with Arashi’s flesh, her arm, her hand, but it moved at Hinoto’s will. It hurled Arashi at Kamui’s exposed white breast. Why shouldn’t it? Why shouldn’t Arashi do such a thing? What was she, other than a tool, a weapon to be used? For a moment, she'd thought she could be something more, as she lay within Sorata’s arms. Such foolish thoughts. There was no place for lovers in the end of the world battle. All of her life, Arashi had served Hinoto-hime. It was only right that the princess should use her as a weapon. She’d finally put Kamui out of his misery, sparing him the fate, which Subaru-san had suffered. 

Only Sorata had thrown himself between them. He’d taken the blow she’d meant for Kamui. Arashi had been able to do nothing, other than stare at her hand, the blade which had driven itself into Sorata’s chest. Blood erupted from the wound, splattering onto her blouse.

“Aww, neesan, I’m sorry I ruined your clothes,” Sorata said. Such a gentle, kind smile spread across his face, even as blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth. “I’m always causing you trouble,” he managed to say, before falling into Kamui’s waiting arms.

“Sora-chan,” Kamui had whispered. His violet eyes had glimmered with tears. Arashi couldn’t cry. All she could do was stare at her bloody hand, at his bloody chest. Of course, Hinoto had thought. The images within the mind of the dreaming princess had been there for Arashi to share. This is where the Star of Kouya meets his destiny.

“Why?” she whispered. “Why did it have to me? The girl you loved, the one you’d die for?” Tears were coming up her throat, but they couldn’t come out. They were stuck. “How could you do this to me?” The words came out as a howl. “I never wanted you to die for me!”

“I know,” Sorata said. The gentleness in his face didn’t changed. “I’m…just…selfish…” His smile grew, as his eyes closed. A sob finally escaped from Arashi in the form of a scream, as his face went slack. No more Sorata. Nothing to show that he’d ever lived, except that she and Kamui were still alive, even if that was for a very short time.

Tears were finally escaping her, as Arashi buried her face in the silk of Karen’s kimono.

“Trying to protect someone you love can leave that someone miserable,” Karen murmured into Arashi’s hair. “Kamui of the Dragons of Earth knows this. It’s why he preferred killing Kamui and Kotori, rather than allowing them to suffer.”

“I wish he had!” Arashi whispered. The raw, ugly pain in her own voice was shameful. If only she still cared. Despoiled, dishonoured priestess of Ise. Laid low by her human fraility. “I wish he’d killed me, rather than died trying to protect me.”

“I know.” There was no censure in Karen’s voice, only a painful empathy. “Most people are heroically selfish, like Sora-chan.”


End file.
